Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last week
FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS
BoC cuts rates, banking regulator loosens buffers to free up $300-billion in lending capacity: Canada’s banking regulator and central bank announced a suite of measures to encourage banks to keep lending and to increase liquidity in key parts of the financial system that are at risk of seizing up amid extreme market volatility. (Mark Rendell)
Canadian banks need to be more transparent about their exposure to the oil patch: Crude oil prices are on another nosedive – this time amid a market meltdown fuelled by a Saudi-Russian production feud and worries about how the coronavirus pandemic will hurt the global economy. And once again, Canadian banks have been caught in the downdraft. (Rita Trichur)
HOOPP names Jeff Wendling as new CEO: The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan has named its top investment professional to succeed CEO Jim Keohane, who retires this month after eight years in the top job and two decades at the organization. (David Milstead)
U.S. investment giant Hamilton Lane pulls out of federal venture capital program: U.S. fund management giant Hamilton Lane Advisors LLC has pulled out of one of the federal government’s signature innovation funding programs, less than two years after Ottawa pledged close to $80-million to the company to invest in the Canadian technology sector. (Sean Silcoff)
Energy experts warn of a long downturn amid oil price war: Energy experts are handing out tough-love advice for oil and gas industry executives sideswiped by falling commodity prices: Get used to it, this could be your reality for the next year. (Andrew Willis)
OSFI urged to free up capital reserve requirement to provide 'breathing room’ for banks: Canada’s banking regulator could free up capital available to the country’s large banks for lending purposes by trimming “countercyclical buffers” as the falling price of oil and worsening business climate increase the risk of a credit crunch, analysts say.
DEALS NEWS: MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS, IPOs and FINANCINGS
Export Development Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada to increase loans by $10-billion: Resurrecting a strategy from the 2008 financial crisis, the two Crown corporations that lend to Canadian businesses will boost their loans by $10-billion, part of Ottawa’s strategy to inject additional liquidity into the economy. (Patrick Brethour, Andrew Willis)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
BMO expects Bank of Canada to cut key interest rate to record low: The Bank of Canada will have to slash its key interest rate by another three-quarters of a percentage point in its next rate decision in mid-April, Bank of Montreal says, as plunging oil prices and mounting coronavirus fears prompt economists to rewrite their economic and rate forecasts. (David Parkinson)
Ottawa needs a new fiscal mantra: think short-term, and start now: For once, we want Canada’s political leaders to be more shortsighted. The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is real. It’s time to take steps to counter it, starting with first things first: pumping money into efforts to fight the spread of the virus and to help people affected by it. (Campbell Clark)
The Streetwise newsletter will resume publication on Tuesday. If you’re reading this on the web, or if someone forwarded this e-mail to you, you can sign up for Streetwise and all Globe newsletters on our signup page.